New Recruits
by shadowritergirl
Summary: Set 4 years after season 3. The Autobots return to Earth for a visit. Some Decepticons still want Earth theirs. The Autobots meet two new humans, one of which is Rachet's responsibility, the other quickly becoming Wheeljack's. The Autobots quickly find out that there was a hidden army of Megatron's- one of which contained vast numbers. Will they win this battle? R&R!
1. Chapter 1

"MIKO! Will you turn that radio down!?" Twenty year old Jack Darby yelled, rubbing his temples.

"Make me slimeball!" Miko Nakadi, now nineteen, shouted back.

"Don't test me." Jack growled, lunging at the black haired girl. A fight ensued between the two.

"Guys, c'mon." Seventeen year old Raf Esquivel sighed. He had lost his glasses, replacing them with contacts.

It was a daily thing for these two. They were always argueing since the Autobots left.

Four years ago.

"I agree with Rafael. The nonstop fighting-" Ratchet cut off as an incoming space bridge request popped up on a screen.

"By the All Spark..." Ratchet murmured. He quickly typed in the commands for the space bridge and turned to the green swirling vortex.

Moments later, eight familiar Autobots walked into the room.

* * *

Jack's fist stopped in mid flight, causing Miko to jump on her chance.

"HA! GOTCHA!" Miko chortled, smirking down at a shell shocked Jack.

"MIKO!" A deep voice called.

"How's our number one Wrecker doing?" Another one asked.

Miko's head snapped up to see three Autobots striding foward towards the two humans.

One was a deep, dark green. On one side of him stood a blue and pink femme Autobot and on his other side was a white, green, and red Bot.

"BULKHEAD! WHEELJACK!" Miko shrieked, jumping up and running to her two Wrecker friends.

"Arcee!" Jack scrambled to his feet. He lunged towards his old friend, who laughed at his antics.

"Raf, think you can tear yourself away from that laptop of your's for two seconds and say hi to an old friend?" A black and yellow Autobot asked, pucking said device from a shocked Raf.

"HEY! Bee, give it back!" Raf exclaimed, jumping up to try and get the electronic device back.

"What in the Sam Hill is going on in here?" Agent William Fowler stormed in, angrily. He froze upon seeing the Autobots.

"Prime! What are you doing here?" Fowler demanded, shocked.

"Hello again Agent Fowler. It's good to see you again." Optimus Prime said, his voice rumbling in his chasiss.

"Optimus, what are you and Team Prime doing here?" Ratchet asked, cutting in on the conversation.

Before Optimus could answer, there was a shout.

"Rihannah! I needed that! Get back here! Rihannah!" A girl shouted angrily. Two girls burst in the room, one with black hair, the other with red.

"Rachet! A little help here, maybe?" The black haired girl shouted.

"Rihannah, are you giving your cousin trouble again?" Ratchet asked, kneeling down and picking the girls up in his servo.

"Just for fun!" Rihannah muttered. Reluctantly, she gave her cousin's, Cleo, backpack back to her.

"Thank you. You do not need to see what's in this thing. College books, homework... Do you wanna do it?" Cleo asked as Ratchet set the two girls down.

"Heck no! Stay away from me!" Rihannah exclaimed, running out of the room.

Cleo chuckled and looked up at her gaurdian. She froze upon seeing the other Autobots, who were staring at her and Ratchet.

"Is this the old team you keep telling me stories about?" Cleo breathed.

"Yes, indeed." Ratchet said, standing up with Cleo still in his servo.

"Optimus Prime, Arcee, Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Bulkhead, Smokescreen, and Ultra Magnus. Team Prime, meet Cleo." Ratchet did the intoductions.

"Hi." Cleo squeaked.

"How did you stumble across this kid?" Bumblebee asked, curious. He stepped foward to get a better look at the girl.

"Me." Jack spoke up from his place on the platform. "A couple of Decepticons jumped us and since Ratchet was picking me up that day, well, uh, let's just say that Cleo became a member of Hanger E pretty quick."

"And I became her gaurdian. Since she's studying Earth's medical procedures, she can give me information on their skills in medicine." Ratchet shrugged.

"Decepticons?" Bumblebee asked, momentarily distracted from teasing Raf.

"Yep. And boy had I never seen Ratchet so furious. Are you still sure you weren't physched up on cythetic energon?" Miko piped up from her place in Bulkhead's servo.

"Very sure, Miko." Ratchet chuckled.

"You should have called us, old friend. We would've come as soon as possible." Prime frowned.

"I know, I know. But-" Ratchet was cut off.

"But we had it handled." Cleo interrupted.

"Yeah. You should've seen the way Miko handled them. It was just luck she had the amour with her." Jack smirked.

"Get up here and say that to my face- Was that a compliment?" Miko demanded.

"Why don't you come find out?" Jack smirked at her again and bolted out of the hangar.

"You're gonna get it!" Miko screeched.

Cleo laughed and turned to Raf, who was now perched up on Bee's shoulder.

"You owe me twenty." Cleo smirked.

"Yeah, yeah." Raf sighed, digging into his pocket and slapping the money into his friend's hand.

"Typical for you two." Ratchet sighed and set Cleo next to his computer. "I'll never understand your gambling ways."

Cleo smiled, then leaned against the metal of the computer, pulling a book out of her bag and quickly tuning everyone out.

"She's so much like Ratchet- once you get to know her. Just wait. Once she gets her work done, she'll start on some project of hers, and Miko will come in and probably destroy something she'll need." Raf sighed.

"I heard that!" Cleo called absent mindedly.

* * *

Sure enough, when Miko walked- well, more like hopped back in- an hour later, she walked up to Cleo, who was now sitting on the couch, and sat beside her, flipping the TV on to the monster truck rally. She kicked her feet up, not paying attention.

The heels of her boots hit the open water bottle, spilling it all over several sheets of paper. Cleo shot to her feet instantly.

"MIKO! I needed those!" Cleo screeched, making all the Autobots audio receptors ring.

"Hey! Sorry! I didn't-"

"You never mean anything! God, how I get any work done with you around is a mystery within itself!" Cleo gathered the now wet papers, sighed, and tossed them in the trash. "Now I have to start all over! AGAIN!"

"See what I mean?" Raf smirked, gleeful.

Before anyone could respond, red lights went off and alarms blared.


	2. Chapter 2

"Decepticon signals." Ratchet said. "Looks like they're drilling in the Rocky Mountains. Energon mine possibly."

"SWEET! Another mission!" A voice whooped. Everyone turned to Cleo- who had her face in her hand and shaking it- and her cousin, Rihannah.

"No, Ri. You are NOT going! Remember what happened last time? Jack, Raf, and I had to chase after you and Miko! Plus, Ratchet didn't know we were missing until mom called!"

"Aw! No way!" Rihannah groaned. "Please?"

Cleo suddenly noticed how Wheeljack had taken a notice to her cousin- even if he was subtle. An idea began hatching in her mind.

"Tell you what. Ratchet and I will go, along with Bulk and Miko, Jack and Arcee. Raf can stay here with Bumblebee. You can come-"

"Yes!" Rihannah pumped her fist.

"But I'm assigning you who you go with."

"Shoot." Rihannah crossed her arms and glared. "Who?"

"Wheeljack. Mind looking after my cousin? She can get pretty wild, but I'm sure you can handle her." Cleo's emerald eyes dared the 'Bot to argue- or say no.

"Why not? I've handled Miko before- how much harder can she be?"

* * *

Wheeljack was beginning to regret his comment, the white Wrecker decided.

Rihannah was indeed harder to handle than Miko was. The moment she had jumped into the passenger seat of the his car form, she had put the radio on some radio station that played nonstop heavy metal, Goth, Rock, and punk music.

Pressing down harder on the gas pedal, Wheeljack sped up slightly on the mountain road.

Suddenly, he whipped the seatbelt out and turned the stereo down.

"Hey!" Rihannah protested, trying to move foward and turn it back up. The seatbelt held her tight.

"I need to be able to hear the orders. So leave it off." Wheeljack commanded.

"Jerk." Rihannah kicked the dashboard with the heel of her steel toed combat boot.

"Stop it!" Wheeljack hit the brakes hard, releasing the tension on the seatbelt and letting Rihannah launch foward.

Rihannah yelled in shock and threw her arms out, stopping herself from hitting the dash.

"Give me whiplash will ya?" Rihannah grumbled. She sat back in the seat, sighing.

A few moments of silence issued between the two as Wheeljack quickly caught up with the other Autobots.

"How're you holding up with Rihannah?" Ratchet's voice suddenly blared through the speakers.

"Just fine, Doc Bot." Wheeljack replied.

"Don't call me that!"

Rihannah burst out in laughter. "I'm so glad I'm not the only one who calls him that!"

Wheeljack allowed a chuckle himself. "So how much longer 'til we reach the coordinates?"

"A few minutes." Optimus Prime responded.

"So, random question." Rihannah began.

"Yeah?" Wheeljack asked.

"Is it true that you had to fight yourself once?"

"Are you kidding me? Miko told you didn't she?"

"Yep. So it's true?"

"Sure is! Kinda creepy, too." Wheeljack paused. "My turn."

"Ask away."

"How exactly are you tied in any of this?"

"My cousin and MIko literally dragged me into it." Came the reply. "When I found out that Ratchet was already Cleo's gaurdian... Let's just say even Miko didn't mess with me for a week." Her voice sounded wistful.

"Already seeing you as Wrecker!" Wheeljack hooted.

"We are at the coordinates." Ratchet suddenly interrupted.

"Awesome!" Rihannah grinned mischievously.

* * *

"Primus!" Wheeljack swore, screeching to a stop when he saw how many Decepticons were coming in and out of the cave. "How did this many 'Cons not run with their tails between their legs?!"

"Well, well! Look who we have here! Some Autobots and their little pets!" A femme's voice said. Spider webs strapped down across every Bot before they could react.

"Airachnid. Where did you come from?!" Arcee seethed.

"Oh, I've been around for quite some time. I've stayed on this planet with some others." The Decepticon said, a smirk on her faceplates.

"No way." Rihannah whispered, peering behind the passenger seat. "That's _the_ Airachnid?"

"Yep. And- Hey! Get back in here!" Wheeljack snapped, seeing Rihannah get open the door and jumping out. "Primus!"

"Well, well. Who have we here? A pet for the hardened Wrecker? Really, Wheeljack. I never thought you to be the soft kind." Airachnid sneered.

"Cuz! What are you doing?! Get back to Wheeljack!" Cleo shouted from the inside of Ratchet.

At that moment, two planes flew overhead. They transformed and fell to the ground in bipedal mode.

"Starscream! Soundwave! How- Wait a minute. _Soundwave?!_" Miko gasped. "We sent you to the Shadowzone!"

"Funny how even a Medical Bot can reverse that, isn't it?" Knock Out said, driving up in his car mode. "Hello again Autobots."

Knock Out transformed up, waving one of his blades. "Now, I see that a little fleshie has volunteered to be... How you humans say... disected?"

Rihannah dove for Wheeljack, hoping to get back inside the car.

"No you don't!" Airachnid shouted. A web clung to Wheeljack's door and snapped it shut in one fluid movement. "Come here you!" The same web whipped around Rihannah's leg and pulled her off her feet.

"No!" Wheeljack shouted, throwing himself into reverse and gunning his engines.

Dust and smoke blew up, blinding everyone.

Rihannah took her chance and reached into her boot, pulling a hunting knife out of a hidden sheath and cutting through the web. Quickly, she wrapped it tight around a heavy branch and ran into the nearby woods.

"Nice try, Wrecker!" Airachnid yanked the web foward and shrieked when a branch hit her in the chassis. "Why you little oraganic brat!"

"Nice one, kid!" Wheeljack called.

"Catch me if you can Decepti- creeps! Not that you'll be able to find me!" Rihannah taunted- her voice distant.

"Spread out! Find that girl- even you have to kill on sight!" Starscream shouted.

Everyone's heart and spark froze at those words.


	3. Chapter 3

Rihannah didn't look back as she ran through the woods. She had heard Starscream's commands, so she knew what was going on.

Thank God I decided today was a camoflauge day, Rihannah thought. She jumped over a log and stifled a yelp as she fell through a cave hole.

Rihannah gasped in realization when she thought of a plan. Quickly, she climbed out of the hole and looked around. She saw some nearby dead branches and she swiftly snatched them up, diving back into the cave and covering the opening. She then crawled into the very back of the tunnel- wait tunnel?

Maybe it leads to that cave where the Autobots are! Rihannah thought, reaching into her inside jacket pocket and pulling out a small flashlight.

Good thing I'm always prepared, Rihannah smirked.

* * *

Night fell quickly. The only sound was coming from Smokescreen, who was trying to get free of the webs entangling him.

"It's no use Smoke. You can't get loose. It's stronger than steel." Bulkhead said.

"Hey!" A voice hissed from a hidden ledge. "Guys!"

"Rihannah?!" Cleo gasped.

"Yep. Me." Rihannah jumped from a small jutting outcrop and landed softly beside Arcee. Quickly, she pulled her knife out and sliced through the silk strands.

"Good job!" Arcee praised quietly.

"How long were you up there?" Cleo demanded, shocked.

"Maybe two hours, two and a half at the most." Rihannah shrugged, moving around Ratchet, cutting the strands binding him.

It took about fifteen minutes for the girl to cut everyone loose.

"I found her! She's freed the Autobots!" Knock Out came out of nowhere, quickly scooping up the red head.

"You know, you really shouldn't bring a person with a knife so close to your face." Rihannah smirked.

"What are you talking about?"

In answer, Rihannah whipped her arm up and stabbed her knife into Knock Out's eye. He yowled in pain and let go of her.

As Rihannah fell, she pulled another knife out of her boot and sliced and hacked at the Decepticon, most definetly scratching his paint.

"Gotcha!" A servo caught Rihannah in mid air and the next thing the girl knew, she was in the passenger seat of Wheeljack's alt form.

"Hey! I wasn't finished with him!" Rihannah protested.

"We need to get outta there. The other 'Cons were on their way and we have you kids. We couldn't chance you getting hurt." Wheeljack sped up. He flicked his rearview mirror to see Rihannah with her arms crossed and glaring at him. She brandished a knife. "And if you use that thing on me... Well, don't do it."

"Nice job cuz!" Cleo's voice came through the speakers. "That was so cool!"

"And you say hunting is a waste of time. I beg to differ." Rihannah smirked.

"Don't let it get to you." Cleo huffed, ending the connection.

Rihannah smiled and shook her head. "Cleo. I'll never understand you."

* * *

Cleo stretched out on the recliner in her house, looking down at her cousin, who was asleep in front of the fire. Her pet, a Doberman- German Shepherd mix, lay beside her, one of her arms over his back.

"You did great Rihannah. I'm proud of you." Cleo murmured, before she fell asleep.

"Get up, cuz! You're ride is here to take you to school!" Cleo woke her cousin up the next morning with a shout and the smell of meat and eggs.

* * *

In record time, Rihannah had gone up the stairs, showered, changed, and eaten before diving into the passenger seat of Wheeljack's alt form.

"Hey." Rihannah yawned, kicking her feet on the dash and crossing her arms behind her back.

"Morning to you too, Huntress." Wheeljack teased.

"You really wanna know my nicknames?" Rihannah asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Why not? You seem like the person who goes by a lot of them." Wheeljack said off- handedly.

"Well okay. You might wanna look a few up though. So, my nicknames... I go by Artemis, Ri, and Huntress- just like you said." Rihannah smirked, a gleeful expression on her face.

"Artemis, Greek goddess of hunting. Ri, obviously a shortcut for your full name. Huntress, because you hunt so much. Not bad names actually." Wheeljack sounded impressed.

"Yeah. Hey, thanks for the ride. I guess I'll see you this afternoon." Rihannah said, when Wheeljack pulled up to the front doors of the school.

"No problem kid. See you." Wheeljack replied, waiting as Rihannah grabbed her bookbag.

* * *

Rihannah walked down the hall and plopped down on the front steps, waiting for Ratchet and Cleo to pick her up. She sighed.

She heard someone behind her, making her turn to look. She cringed inwardly when she saw that it was Vince smirking down at her.

"I see you've decided to shed a few layers Rihannah." Vince purred, looking over the redhead in her brown T- shirt and evergreen knee- length khaki shorts. "But you still look so... _Hot!_"

"Uhg. Get a life Vince." Rihannah snorted. She stood up and walked to the curb- with Vince right behind her.

"So, you know, the Halloween dance is coming up. I was thinking... You, me. Maybe we could go together... and then maybe have some fun."

"In your dreams."

"C'mon baby! You and me-" Vince was cut off by a white, red, and green car rolling up. A man of about twenty- one stepped out of the driver's seat and moved to the two teenagers.

"This guy givin' you trouble Ri?" Wheeljack's voice was unmistakable.

"Who're you?" Vince sneered.

"I suggest you don't try messing with my cousin. He can get ticked off pretty easily." Rihannah snapped, jumping into the passenger seat of the car. She rolled the window down and glared at Vince. "Leave him alone Jack. He's not worth it."

"You'd tell me when he was right?"

"If it makes you happy." Rihannah sighed.

"Good enough for me." Wheeljack's holoform got into the driver's seat and drove off. When they were out of sight, Rihannah arched an eyebrow at the holoform.

"What happened to my cousin picking me up?"

"Eh. I think she's trying to get me to become your gaurdian. She practically screamed at me to pick you up. I think my audio receptors might be shattered- as well as your friends and Team Prime's."

"Sounds like her."

Rihannah looked into the rearview mirror- and her heart stopped when she saw a red Aston Martin behind the two.

"Uh, Wheeljack?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't look now, but we have company."

Behind them, Knock Out's doors transformed into cannon blasters and began firing.


End file.
